Bruins know they can’t get carried away with going for shorthanded goals

Posted By
Scott McLaughlin
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June 8, 2011 @ 1:17 pm
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General |
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The Bruins have done a great job shutting down Vancouver’s power play this series, as they’ve held the league’s best man advantage to a 1-for-16 showing. Not only did they keep the Canucks scoreless on their eight power plays in Game 3, but the Bruins netted a pair of shorthanded goals — one from Brad Marchand[1] and one from Daniel Paille[2].

On Wednesday, Paille said it’s important for the Bruins penalty killers to not get caught up in trying to score while shorthanded. He said they can’t force plays that could result in them being caught out of position.

“I don’t think that was the plan,” Paille said of being aggressive and getting shorthanded goals. “I think it obviously turned out that way, and we just kind of went with it. Fortunately it helped us in the end. It has cost us in the past, so we don’t want to do that too much.”

Marchand, who tied for third in the NHL[3] with five shorthanded goals during the regular season, agreed with Paille and said the key for him is to just take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves.

“I just think a lot of it’s luck, a lot of lucky bounces,” Marchand said. “You get opportunities if the pucks hops over sticks and you get breakaways and stuff like that. If you saw a lot of the goals I scored shorthanded, they’re very fluky, pucks popping up behind the net in open cages. So a lot of it’s just lucky bounces.”

As far as Paille goes, Claude Julien[4] said he’d be happy if him and linemate Gregory Campbell[5] just keep doing what they’ve been doing. The duo has made a formidable penalty-kill unit all season for the Bruins.

“We’ve liked them there since the start of they year. They’ve been great penalty killers,” Julien said. “When Dan is skating, he does a really good job pressuring the D and makes it hard for them to break out cleanly. Certainly his speed is great. Turnovers and scoring opportunities as well.

“Gregory has been a great penalty killer because he’s willing to block shots. You get a second and third effort from him all the time. Those guys have been really good for us. Whenever they didn’t get an opportunity to play much as a fourth line, you could certainly rely on them heavily to help you out through the penalty kill.”